OPIC’s Small and Medium-Enterprise (SME) Financing is available for businesses with annual revenues of less than $400 million. In this interview, James Polan, Vice President, Small and Medium Enterprise Finance, explains the work that he and his colleagues do to provide counsel and financial products to these types of businesses looking to do business in emerging markets. Why does OPIC focus soRead more…

By John Aldonas Deputy Vice President, OPIC Small and Medium Enterprise Finance Does it make business sense to invest in the world’s poorest people? Earlier this month, I joined some OPIC clients on a panel at the Society for International Development, where we discussed why private sector investments in some of the poorest and least developed parts of the worldRead more…

May 25 is Africa Day, which recognizes the founding of the African Union in 1963. This year, the 50th anniversary of African unity provides an opportunity to highlight the great progress the continent has made, and encourages a look toward the future. By almost all accounts, the future is bright. One commonly-cited statistic is that seven of the 10 fastestRead more…

Countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan and Haiti “have a long way to go before earning the optimistic label ‘emerging markets,’” note the authors of a recent Inc. magazine series, Entrepreneurship on the Frontier. Nonetheless, they say that these countries have become entrepreneurial hubs. The series, which explores entrepreneurial activity in some of these highly challenging and highly promising markets,Read more…

OPIC’s newly-released 2012 annual report showcases several key projects and agency priorities of the past year and highlights the role of innovation in our work. Innovation has long been a guiding principal at OPIC, which has built creative deal structures and partnerships to address the challenges of investing in the developing world and worked with several innovative businesses that foundRead more…

OPIC will take its popular Expanding Horizons workshop to Charleston, South Carolina on May 7 in an effort to educate more small businesses from the southeastern United States about the benefits of expanding into emerging markets, and the ways that OPIC finance and insurance tools can support their efforts. OPIC began its Expanding Horizons series in 2006 in recognition ofRead more…

May 1 is International Workers’ Day, which recognizes working people everywhere and their collective efforts to campaign for better working conditions. OPIC’s work supporting development in emerging markets often helps create jobs in the host countries and OPIC works closely to ensure that workers’ rights are respected. The Agency’s Office of Investment Policy (OIP), monitors active projects to ensure compliance withRead more…

OPIC is teaming up with the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), the Small Business Administration, the Export-Import Bank, and other export, trade, and finance related agencies across the federal government this May, during World Trade Month, on a series of Twitter chats for U.S. companies. The Twitter chat series will provide U.S. companies with information and resources on doingRead more…

With recent independence in 2011, South Sudan is working to build its economy and facilitate private investment. The new country offers enormous potential with fertile farmland, oil, and natural resources. It also faces challenges to sustainable economic development and facilitating investments common in frontier markets. Looking at ways to help boost the country’s private sector development, OPIC Executive Vice PresidentRead more…